As a concerned citizen, I encourage this nation’s leaders to consider a cooperative relationship in support of Iran’s quest for nuclear energy rather than absolute opposition. I offer the following in support of this suggestion:

During the Iran-Iraq War, which lasted from 1980 to 1988, the U.S. government and the government of Iraq maintained a profitable trade agreement. Although it was not a problem at the time, Iraq’s abundance of oil allowed that nation access to materials and technologies used to wage war. In later years these materials and technologies would lead to concern, heated debate and, finally, to war.

The trouble began in 1990 with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. At that point, the U.S. made a decision that changed the way in which this country looked at Iraq, and sided with Kuwait. The U.S. didn’t have to do this. We could simply have allowed it to happen. We could even have used that situation to build stronger ties with Iraq, which we might later have used to change Iraq from within. Instead, our nation chose war, which has now lasted some 16 years and has cost God knows how much money and loss of life.

Obviously, this situation was not expected to last as long as it has, but it has, and this country must acknowledge that.

The reason I point this out is because I believe that war is not always the best solution. Sometimes, finesse is best.

Jamie Beaulieu, Jay